Athletic training apparel for yoga and other sports

ABSTRACT

Athletic training apparel useful for yoga or other sports and methods associated therewith. A pair of pants, which may be constructed from a lightweight textile base material and are relatively smooth, includes areas with an increased coefficient of friction to allow a wearer to use the higher friction areas to maintain a training position, such as a yoga asana. The higher friction areas may be formed by disposing a higher friction material upon the textile base material of the pants. In one illustrative embodiment, the higher friction areas may be placed on the portion of the pants that will be positioned on the inner thighs of a wearer. The higher friction areas may be disposed in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/148,155, filed Jan. 29, 2009, the disclosure of which is incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to athletic equipment and supplies, and,in particular, to athletic training apparel that includes areas with ahigher coefficient of friction to allow a user to maintain desiredpositions.

BACKGROUND

The various forms of Yoga have become increasingly popular in Westernsociety as a form of exercise and recreation. In its various forms ofpractice, a participant places their body into various specifiedpositions or asanas which stretch different portions of the body invarious ways. Repeated practice of the various asanas can increaseflexibility and strengthen various muscle groups leading to improvedflexibility, posture, and muscle tone.

Since some of the standard asanas require a practitioner to place andhold the limbs in positions that may be awkward for an unpracticednovice or to bend the body in new and unfamiliar ways, these may bedifficult for a novice to achieve and/or maintain. This can discouragenovices from continuing yoga training. Consequently, there exists a needfor a simple device or system that would assist a yoga practitioner inachieving or maintaining certain asanas. Athletic apparel that achievedthis goal without requiring a novice to learn to operate additionalequipment would be a further improvement in the art.

SUMMARY

The present invention includes athletic training apparel useful for yogaor other sports. In one illustrative embodiment, a pair of pants, whichmay be constructed from a lightweight textile base material and arerelatively smooth, includes areas with an increased coefficient offriction to allow a wearer to use the higher friction areas to maintaina training position, such as a yoga asana. The higher friction areas maybe formed by disposing a higher friction material upon the textile basematerial of the pants. In one illustrative embodiment, the higherfriction areas may be placed on the portion of the pants that will bepositioned on the inner thighs of a wearer. The higher friction areasmay be disposed in an aesthetically pleasing manner.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that theelements depicted in the drawing are not necessarily to scale, but arefor illustrative purposes only. The nature of the present invention, aswell as other embodiments of the present invention may be more clearlyunderstood by reference to the following detailed description of theinvention, to the appended claims, and to the several drawings attachedhereto.

FIG. 1 shows a front view of an illustrative embodiment of athletictraining pants in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a partial view of a portion of a leg of the pants of FIG.1.

FIG. 3 depicts a front view of a second illustrative embodiment ofathletic training pants in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4 depicts a front view of another illustrative embodiment ofathletic training pants in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 5 depicts a front view of another illustrative embodiment ofathletic training pants in accordance with the present invention.

DESCRIPTION

For the purposes of promoting an understanding of the principles of theinvention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated inthe drawing and specific language will be used to describe the same. Itwill nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of theinvention is thereby intended, such alterations and furthermodifications in the illustrated device, and such further applicationsof the principles of the invention as illustrated therein beingcontemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to whichthe invention relates.

Turning to FIG. 1, there is depicted an illustrative embodiment ofathletic apparel in accordance with the principles of the presentinvention. The depicted apparel is a pair of pants, generally indicatedat reference numeral 10. Pants 10 may be constructed from a lightweighttextile base material 100, which has a relatively smooth surface. Forexample, where pants 10 are constructed as loosely fitting pair ofathletic pants which allow free movement for exercise, the base material100 may be cotton, linen, hemp or a blended material including one ofthese natural materials or one or more man-made textile materials. Itwill be appreciated that for such embodiments, a textile base material100, which is comfortable and breathable is preferred. Alternatively,where pant 10 are constructed to be form fitting apparel, thelightweight textile base material 100 may be a more elastic material,such as Lycra, Spandex, or an elastic cotton blend.

Pants 10 include selected areas with an increased coefficient offriction to allow a wearer to use the higher friction areas to maintaina training position, such as a yoga asana. One exemplary selected areais the “pelvic garage” generally identified at 102, at the portion ofthe pants 10 which will be disposed over generally corresponding to anarea extending over the front hip joint of the wearer from the innerthighs across the front of the torso. As depicted, the pelvic garagearea 102 may be formed from the inseam to the outer seam of the pants oneither side as symmetrically bands at the angle of the front hip joint.When a wearer of the pants 10 performs certain yoga asanas; such asvrikshasana (tree), Eka Pada navasana (One Leg Boat), Janu Sirsasana(seated head to knee), Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana (revolved head to knee),or Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (One-Legged King Pigeon); one foot if broughttowards the opposite leg or inner thigh, ideally within the “pelvicgarage” and maintained in that position while the position is held.

Each selected area, such as the “pelvic garage” 102 is, characterized byhaving an increased coefficient of friction compared to the basematerial 100. This may be accomplished by disposing a higher frictionmaterial 104 in the selected area 102. The higher friction material 104may be disposed upon the textile base material 100 in any suitablemanner known to those of ordinary skill in the art. For example, thehigher friction material 104 may be applied using a silk-screening orother stenciling process, by xerographic deposition, by block printing,roller printing, screen printing, or by directly painting a suitablematerial 104 on the base material 100. Suitable processes and materialsinclude those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,538 to Kaspar, et al.,U.S. Pat. No. 7,107,626 to Andrews, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,346,935 toPatterson, the disclosures of each of which are incorporated byreference herein in their entireties. The deposition may occur after thepants 10 are constructed from the base material 100, or upon the basematerial 100 prior to assembly and sewing of the pants. Suitable higherfriction materials 104 may include silicone rubber, PVC vinyl materials,rubberized materials, acrylic inks, latex inks, or any other suitableink, dye or paint for textile use known to those of skill in the art.Plastisol inks may be used in certain embodiments and may be applied ina manned that results in a “gummy” texture, as by using a fine screenduring a screen printing process.

The material 104 may be disposed as a pattern formed from a number ofdiscrete individual disposed bodies 106 (FIG. 5) or as a continuousband. Each discrete body 106 may have the same or a different shape andmay be disposed in a desired pattern to accomplish the goal of assistingin the retaining of a body part in the desired position. The material104 may be multi-colored, contain a pattern, and/or be disposed asbodies 106 with shapes, to form an aesthetically pleasing pattern. Forexample, the material 104 could depict flowers, patterns, or geometricdesigns similar to a tribal tattoo or Sanskrit lettering by colors orplacement of bodies 106. For example, where the textile base materialincludes colored flowers on a green background, bodies 106 may be usedto form a pattern of green stems with varying colored flowers to matchthe background design. As another example, where the textile basematerial 100 is a solid color, the higher friction material 104 may be acontrasting color disposed in a fanciful geometric design.

Additional selected areas selected areas with an increased coefficientof friction to allow a wearer to use the higher friction areas tomaintain a training position, may include along the inseam 108 down aportion of the length of the legs of the pants 10. This may occur downthe entire length of the inseam 108 or only a portion thereof. Asdepicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, this may be done by disposing a series ofindividual bodies 109 along each inseam. Alternatively, one or morebands 112 may be used as depicted in FIGS. 3 and 4.

Another selected area may be the portion of the pants corresponding tothe knees of the wearer, as generally indicated at 120. This may includean enlarged area extending from the inseam towards and across the backof the knee, as depicted in FIG. 2. As depicted in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4,this may also include an enlarged area extending towards the front ofthe knee.

As with selected area 102, each selected area 108 or 120 may be formedby disposing a higher friction material 104 therein the selected area102, as discussed previously herein. As depicted in FIG. 4, the material104 deposited in the selected areas 102, 108, and 120 may be connectedas a continuous area.

It will be appreciated that although pants 10 are depicted as a pair ofpants, other forms of athletic apparel may be utilized to achieve thebenefits of the present invention. For example, a garment withintegrated pants and top such as a leotard or unitard may include thehigher friction areas in the desired locations to assist a user in yogatraining.

Methods of training students to practice yoga re also included withinthe scope of the present invention. In such training, a student, such asa novice with little or no yoga experience is provided with a pair ofpants 10, including the area 102 with a material 104 disposed thereon toincrease the coefficient of friction. The material 104 may be disposedas a number of discrete bodies 106 and positioned over the inner thighsof the wearer. On some embodiments, the remainder of the pants 10 willbe free of material 104 outside the selected areas, to allow for smoothmovement by the student wearing the pants 10.

An instructor then guides the student into one or more desired positionsfor training Depending on the yoga school and instructor trainingtechniques, the particular poses may vary. Selected poses may includevrikshasana (tree), Eka Pada navasana (One Leg Boat), Janu Sirsasana(seated head to knee), Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana (revolved head to knee),or Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (One-Legged King Pigeon). In each of theseposes, one foot of the student is brought against the opposite innerthigh and into contact with the material 104 disposed in the “pelvicgarage” area 102. The relatively higher friction of the material 104compared to the textile base material of the pants 10 assists thestudent in maintaining the position. The instructor may assist thestudent in achieving proper positioning or technique.

By providing apparel that allows a student to maintain an unfamiliarpose during training, the need for separate supports or assistance tomaintain the pose can be eliminated. This allows a student to achieve adegree of success earlier in training providing motivation to continuetraining and obtain the benefits of the exercise.

While the present invention has been shown and described in terms ofsome illustrative embodiments thereof, it will be understood that thisinvention is not limited to any particular embodiment and that changesand modifications may be made without departing from the true spirit andscope of the invention as defined and desired to be protected.

1-9. (canceled)
 10. A method of yoga training, the method comprising:providing pants constructed from a textile base material to a studentwhere the pants further comprise a material having a coefficient offriction that is higher than that of the textile base material disposedon the pants in at least one area that will be disposed over an areacorresponding to the front hip joint of the wearer from an inseam of thepant leg to an outer seam; guiding a student wearing the pants into adesired yoga position that brings a foot of the student into contactwith the material having a coefficient of friction that is higher thanthat of the textile base material disposed on the pants in at least onearea, such that the material having a coefficient of friction that ishigher than that of the textile base material acts to retain the footwithin the at least one area.
 11. The method of claim 10, whereinguiding a student wearing the pants into a desired yoga position thatbrings a foot of the student into contact with the material having acoefficient of friction that is higher than that of the textile basematerial disposed on the pants in at least one area comprises guidingthe student into a yoga position selected from the group comprisingvrikshasana (tree), Eka Pada navasana (One Leg Boat), Janu Sirsasana(seated head to knee), Parivrtta Janu Sirsasana (revolved head to knee),and Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (One-Legged King Pigeon).
 12. The method ofclaim 10, wherein providing pants constructed from a textile basematerial to a student where the pants further comprise a material havinga coefficient of friction that is higher than that of the textile basematerial disposed on the pants in at least one area that will bedisposed over an area corresponding to the front hip joint of the wearerfrom an inseam of the pant leg to an outer seam comprises providingpants where the material having a coefficient of friction that is higherthan that of the textile base material is disposed along at least oneinseam of a pant leg along a portion of the leg.
 13. The method of claim12, wherein providing pants where the material having a coefficient offriction that is higher than that of the textile base material isdisposed along at least one inseam of a pant leg along a portion of theleg comprises providing pants wherein the material having a coefficientof friction that is higher than that of the textile base materialdisposed along at least one inseam of a pant leg along a portion of theleg includes a larger area of material with a higher coefficient offriction disposed along the portion of the pants corresponding to a backof a knee of the wearer.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein providingpants constructed from a textile base material to a student where thepants further comprise a material having a coefficient of friction thatis higher than that of the textile base material disposed on the pantsin at least one area that will be disposed over an area corresponding tothe front hip joint of the wearer from an inseam of the pant leg to anouter seam comprises providing pants wherein the material having acoefficient of friction that is higher than that of the textile basematerial is selected from the group comprising silicone rubber, PVCvinyl materials, rubberized materials, acrylic inks, latex inks, andplastisol inks.
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein providing pantsconstructed from a textile base material to a student where the pantsfurther comprise a material having a coefficient of friction that ishigher than that of the textile base material disposed on the pants inat least one area that will be disposed over an area corresponding tothe front hip joint of the wearer from an inseam of the pant leg to anouter seam comprises providing pants wherein the material having acoefficient of friction that is higher than that of the textile basematerial disposed on the pants is disposed as a multitude of discreteindividual bodies of material.
 16. The method of claim 15, whereinproviding pants wherein the material having a coefficient of frictionthat is higher than that of the textile base material disposed on thepants is disposed as a multitude of discrete individual bodies ofmaterial comprises providing pants where the multitude of discreteindividual bodies of material are disposed in a pattern that covers theat least one area that will be disposed over an area corresponding tothe front hip joint of the wearer from an inseam of the pant leg to anouter seam.
 17. The method of claim 10, wherein providing pantsconstructed from a textile base material to a student where the pantsfurther comprise a material having a coefficient of friction that ishigher than that of the textile base material disposed on the pants inat least one area that will be disposed over an area corresponding tothe front hip joint of the wearer from an inseam of the pant leg to anouter seam comprises providing pants that are free of disposed materialhaving a coefficient of friction that is higher than that of the textilebase material outside of the at least one area that area correspondingto the front hip joint of the wearer from an inseam of the pant leg toan outer seam.